Taking Control. (a Ninjago fanfic)

Chapter 57- Terror of the battle

L L O Y D

The heat was suffocating, thick with smoke and ash. Every breath burned my lungs, but I couldn't let up. Kai was on my right, flames blazing around his fists, and together we pressed forward, forcing the Overlord back step by step.

He wasn't laughing anymore. The sneer was gone, replaced by something ugly and furious, eyes narrowed and teeth bared. He blocked Kai's punch with a burst of lightning, but I saw how his feet skidded back from the impact. He wasn't untouchable. We had a chance.

Infact,

We were winning.

The fire ninja lunged again, swinging low. The Overlord jumped, twisting to avoid it, and I struck from behind, energy crackling around my fist. I landed the hit on his shoulder, sending him stumbling.

He spun back to me, lips pulled into a snarl. "You think you're strong enough to challenge me?"

"More than strong enough," I shot back, squaring my stance. "Face it—you're losing."

His eyes widened, like he couldn't comprehend it—like the very idea was foreign. A flicker of doubt. Of surprise.

Kai saw it too, and couldn't help the smirk that tugged at his mouth. "Guess all that godly power's not doing you much good now, huh?"

The Overlord froze. His breathing grew ragged, shoulders heaving, and I saw his fingers twitch—once, twice—like he was trying to hold something back.

Oh-

And then he snapped.

His scream tore through the air, raw and inhuman, like metal scraping on bone, like every howl of rage and hate condensed into one horrifying sound. Like the personified version of fury, of hatred, of madness.

The lightning around him twisted, the bright blue warping, deepening—turning a seething, pulsating purple.

The air around us dropped, the temperature plummeting so fast I felt ice sting my skin. Kai's fire had been the only thing keeping me warm. It was winter after all, but— it shouldn't be this cold.

The ground cracked beneath him, splitting apart like something from a nightmare.

And the sky—

Oh FSM, the sky.

Dark clouds spiraled overhead, circling the devastation like vultures waiting for a corpse to feast on. Lightning crackled through them, all of it tainted that horrible, venomous purple. The wind howled like a dying animal, and I felt something coil around my chest—squeezing, suffocating—like the very air itself had turned hostile.

And I realised.

He'd just been playing with us the whole time.

He was so

SO much more powerful that he let on to be.

Kai hesitated, and I saw it—the flicker of terror in his eyes. He didn't try to hide it, and neither did I. This was different. This wasn't just Jays power. This was... his too.

The Overlord raised his head, and his eyes— and his smile— it was wrong—twisted too far, forced, like his face was cracking apart from the effort.

"You dare think you can defeat me?" His voice wasn't Jay's either. It was layered—one voice on top of another, deep and ancient and echoing through my skull. I felt it crawl down my spine, ice in my veins.

He took a step forward, and the ground shattered beneath his foot. Purple electricity coursed around his body, alive and rabid, eating through the air.

I took a step back.

"I am eternal," he hissed, voice scraping through the storm. "I am darkness. I am everything."

His voice was so loud, so thunderous, that I could barely concentrate on what he said. He became a completely different person. Even more terrifying than before. His eyes had warped into a miserable purple, even deeper, darker than before.

Kai swallowed, trying to steady himself, but I could see the way his hands shook. "Yeah? Then why are you losing?" he shot back, but his voice wasn't as steady as before.

The Overlord's face twisted further, mouth stretching too wide, eyes burning brighter. "Losing?" he repeated, mocking. "You think I've been trying? You've seen nothing."

He moved faster than I could process, a blur of stained blue and streaks of now purple lightning. Kai barely had time to brace himself before a blast of power smashed into him, hurling him backward. He caught himself mid-air, twisting into Spinjitzu to soften the landing, but the Overlord was relentless.

He lunged again, and Kai spun to meet him, fire spiraling outward. Their clash was brutal—lightning ripping through the flames, scorching the air around them. I tried to get closer, charging up my own power, but the sheer power from their battle pushed me back.

The Overlord caught Kai's spinning form mid-attack, slamming him to the ground with a crack that echoed like thunder. Kai's Spinjitzu shattered, and he let out a sharp gasp as his back was slammed against the pavement with such a force it made the stonework crack. He barely had time to roll away as lightning speared into the earth where he'd just been laying.

"Kai!" I yelled, launching myself forward, green energy swirling around me. I struck at the Overlord's side, forcing him back just enough to give Kai room to breathe.

Kai staggered upright, wiping blood from his mouth, his glare never leaving the Overlord. "That all you got?" he rasped, trying to sound cocky—but I could hear the strain.

Stop it you idiot. Don't anger him more...

The Overlord didn't answer. His head twitched unnaturally, like a puppet with its strings pulled too tight.

He raised his hands to the sky, and the storm answered, purple lightning cascading down around him in jagged arcs, scorching craters into the ground. I barely had time to shove Kai out of the way before one slammed down where we'd stood.

"You were never a match for me," the Overlord growled, his voice warping and breaking. "None of you were. Ninjago belongs to me. I will win. And you will all die."

He moved again, almost faster than thought, and Kai reacted on pure instinct, spinning into Spinjitzu just in time to deflect the oncoming strike.

Their powers clashed in a blinding flare—flame and lightning, fire and fury—until the Overlord seized Kai's shoulder and sent a surge of purple energy straight into his leg.

Kai screamed, his fire warping, flickering with violet veins, and I rushed forward, launching a sphere of energy that struck the Overlord's side and broke his grip.

"Kai, get up!" I shouted, trying to pull him to his feet.

Kai gritted his teeth, forcing himself upright, but he was shaking, scorch marks seared into his calf.

The Overlord just laughed—low and venomous, eyes blazing with a terrifying, wild light.

"You don't understand," he hissed, his voice almost gleeful now. "I have transcended. I am beyond your flames, beyond your power. You can struggle all you want—"

He pointed a finger at us, and the sky seemed to open up, purple lightning streaking down with horrifying precision, forcing us to scatter.

"—but you will fail. You never had a chance, Ninja."

He raised his hands, and suddenly the storm circled tighter, funneling above him in a swirling mass of shadow and violet light. The wind howled like a monster's roar, and I felt that suffocating terror settle like a weight on my chest.

I wanted to cry.

I couldn't— we couldn't do this.

This wasn't just a fight anymore. This was survival.

And for the first time in a long, long time... I wasn't sure we'd make it out alive.